(no subject)

Hi All,
Rooting begonias is becoming a fascinating hobby.  After looking a second 
time at the cuttings, I have discovered plants developing all the way up each 
vein.  Little roots are forming on the backside of the leaves and small 
plants on the front.  It seems that even small veins produce tiny plants.  I 
decided that one could fill a good size greenhouse in almost no time.  I used 
the site that Bob passed along and have been able to read and learn much 
about these interesting plants.  I plan to make use of it for several things 
that I want to know.  As he said it seems to have everything.

Last August in Dayton, OH I discovered two very large begonias at the door of 
the room where the hosta society met.  The gardener was showing me the way to 
the meeting room.  When I exclaimed over the beauty of these two plants he 
quickly cut two small pieces and told me to take them back to TN.  Wrapped in 
a wet paper towel, they traveled home with me.  Well, they are growing and I 
have been able to make cuttings to increase the number of stems for my 
container.  Just for fun I am trying cuttings from a leaf of that plant also. 
 I believe the gardener told me the plant came from Brazil and that it was 
named either Sally or Betty.  In all of the confusion I did not write it 
down.  Can anyone from that group help me with the name of this begonia?

Each year brings new experiences.  This year for the first time I added 
perlite to my rooting medium.  To me this was a bad move.  It made the soil 
too heavy. Several roots have been broken as I tried to remove the young 
plants for transplanting.  We had rain this week so I spent a full day in the 
plant room transplanting about 500 streaked seedlings. I also selected 
seedlings from my dark line which I am now calling Velvet Night.  Again this 
year this plant has produced at least 90% of very dark seedlings.  I now have 
a large clump of this plant and will be dividing it this summer.  There 
should be several crowns available.  I will probably sell about 6 double 
divisions of this plant.  Anyone interested in biding email me privately.  
Now that I have said that I will have to remove the post from the robin.

About two months ago I bought from Home Depot a gadget called Pest-x.  It is 
an electronic pest repeller.  I had hoped that it would work on snails but 
they must be deaf.  Anyway I plugged one into the wall in the plant room.  
Guess what no black gnats in the seedling trays.  It is supposed to repel 
mice, most insects, spiders, fleas, moths and ticks.  I can't hear it but the 
gnats must.  Usually I treat the trays with Lysol but this year it has not 
been needed.  Pest-x is supposed to cover 500 square feet but I am not sure 
it does.  I have seen a few gnats on the far side of the room.  Goodness why 
haven't I thought of moving it to the center of the room?  Guess I will try 
that tomorrow.

Have just finished cleaning the houses in time as cold weather is on its way. 
 I still need to use Round up on the beds but will have to get up leaves 
first.  The rain that we had came with winds of up to 60 mph.  All of the 
hickory leaves, popular leaves and a few other things came down at once.  Now 
about the only thing left on the trees are oak and Pecan leaves.  Some of the 
Oaks will continue to fall until new buds push them off next spring.  The 
English Walnut trees are bare by the middle of August at the latest which 
means I take up leaves about 8 months a year.  

The drought for the past three years has taken most of the grass in the yard. 
 At this time I could use an acre of artificial turf.  I can see no reason to 
seed it again.  The zoyia is doing great in the sun but there is too much 
shade for it in a lot of the yard.  Wonder what artificial trees would do?  
Just think no roots to hinder the hostas.  No leaves to remove.  I bet we 
could even use lights to give the effect of fall color.
Oh well dreams are what motivates us to inventions.
Mary

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE HOSTA-OPEN
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index